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Monday, October 15, 2012

Review: Travelon RFID-Blocking Trifold Wallet

Today’s review is for the men out there (or the ladies who are looking for holiday/birthday gifts already), and it’s a good one. While I’m waiting for some brand new travel bags to come in, Travelon asked me if I’d like to choose a product to review while on my trip to Anaheim and LA. My husband is a wallet “collector”. I think mostly it’s because he never finds just the right one, but he will pore over a selection of wallets like I do with a wall of shoes. He will buy one or two and be excited about the current one for about three days and then declare he hates it and go back to his old beat-up one.

Now, I can tell you I adore 95%
of the shoes I buy, so I don’t understand what it is about a wallet that makes
it “unacceptable”, but I don’t have to carry it, so I don’t tell him anymore
that it will probably end up in the donation box in a week. With the huge choice
of items on the Travelon website, I asked if he might be interested in trying
one of their RFID-blocking wallets, since he was talking about getting one
before our next trip. He jumped on the opportunity and chose one that was similar
to his regular wallet – a trifold jobbie with slots for plenty of cards and a
separated bill compartment.

For those of you who don’t
know, there are now these nifty little electronic gadgets that thieves use in
large tourist areas and airports that can steal all your credit card numbers
and other important info. You never know that you’ve been robbed, because all
your cards are still in your wallet. Your balances can be run up while you’re on
the plane or sleeping and you won’t know what happened until you go to use a
card and it gets declined. Serious travel catastrophe!

Needless to say, I was a little
apprehensive as to what he would think of this new wallet that, like many of
the other wallets he has purchased, looks much like every billfold he’s liked,
but also detested. Once it arrived, he got all excited. I wondered how long it
would last. Surprisingly, we’ve been back from vacation for almost a week and
he’s still using and loving it! Here’s what he says he loves about it:

Looks
great – Obviously, he chose the style he did because it looks
great and is sleek and classic looking. It also has super features that make it
even better. It’s made of soft cowhide leather, but we both agree that it looks
even better than a normal leather wallet and it appears to be much more flexible,
allowing it to stretch when needed.

Peace
of mind – If you (or your man) worry endlessly about almost
everything, especially money, then an RFID-blocking wallet is totally something
to put on your wish list. Eric is always mulling over something that may or may
not be important and ruining his own good time. This gave him several things to
cross off the list. He knew his information was safe and he wouldn’t have to
deal with an avoidable travel disaster in the middle of our trip.

One of the big things he
worries about is having to work with people he doesn’t know to solve a problem.
At home he can just pop into his local bank branch, but on vacation, we may
have to talk with new customer service reps or even people he may not
understand if we’re in a foreign country. If we can eliminate some stress
fairly easily, I’m all for it, since his worrying can also ruin the day for me,
too.

Large
compartments – While this wallet is the same size (and maybe
a tad smaller) than your regular wallet, the compartments are large and can
hold a fair amount of money – if you’re lucky enough to have it. The section
for paper money is divided into two sections, so you can use the one section
for domestic bills and the other for foreign, or you can do like Eric does, and
probably a lot of other men do, and use one for money and the other for
receipts. He tends to collect receipts for a week to a month before he cleans
it out and starts over. Look at all the paper he has in there! And it still
closes just fine.

Plenty
of card slots – Even I know the annoyance of not having
enough slots for cards in a wallet…or having a ton that you don’t use and make
your wallet too bulky if you do use
them. The Travelon trifold wallet has 7 card slots. You may not think this is a
lot, but it appears it’s just the right amount. The slots are just wide enough
that the cards slide in and out easily – no more struggling to get your debit
card or ID out every time you need them. Not only that, but you can put more
than one in a slot if you need to. This doesn’t mean that they are all loose in
there and your cards are going to just fall out everywhere. They are still
super secure.

Eric was able to put our theme
park tickets in a slot along with any FASTPASS tickets we were waiting to use
and our room key. Now that he’s home, he says he will keep all of his insurance
info in one slot (convenient to have it all together), but that it is also
perfect to be able to put more than one of your million rewards cards in, so
you aren’t using one slot for each one and then have no space for important
credit cards and identification.

Overall, he has had no
complaints with this wallet and loves the durability of it. The soft cowhide
will last for a long time and the matte finish will not crack like those shiny
leather wallets always seem to do. It’s a winner! He says he highly recommends
it and is excited to find what he considers the perfect wallet [actual opinion!].
It’s compact, even when totally full and doesn’t make your pocket unusually
bulgy either.

This is not the only style of RFID-blockingwallet that is available through Travelon. There is something to suit
everyone’s preferences, from front-pocket styles to billfolds to cardholders
with a money clip. If you’re a lady looking for a new wallet for your travels
(or every day), then you can find RFID-blocking ones in all shapes and sizes as
well! Again, with the holidays rapidly approaching, this is a great time to
start your shopping, especially if you have a hard-to-buy-for person on your
gift list. Everyone carries money and cards of some kind and, even though these
are particularly great for travelers, they are not limited to them. Check out
their awesome selection!